It is 96 degrees and 6 months until Christmas. For us Christmas Aficionados this is excellent news! It is Christmas in my mind all year long but I try not to give voice to my Yule Passion until we reach the 6-month mark. I have heard the suggestion that we adopt two Chrismas per year…and I like the idea…

Cedar trees remind me of Christmas. The kindness of my fellow travelers reminds me of Christmas. My daily hope for the future is in the Spirit of Christmas.

I was thinking of ministry yesterday. We all have a ministry in our souls if we want to use it. Ministry comes in a variety of forms. These ministries do not come with a lofty title or a large paycheck. They are driven by the desire to help someone. Neva J. loved to help those who society shunned. If you were alone and lonely…she was your buddy. If you were denied entrance to The Club…you were a charter member of Neva J.’ Club.

We suffer from a bit of tunnel vision. We work and struggle and strive and assume that everyone will do as we have done. I vividly recall as a young man working 18 hours per day and being called lazy. A Cute Term for the members of The Club to banter around over a round of golf. It must have been empowering and an assurance that they were God’s Chosen and that at least they were not as bad as the poor 18-hour-a-day worker…who fell asleep on the road between job assignments. I understand what it is like to be marginalized. I empathize with those who are painted with a brush of misunderstanding by the inflated egos of many who really have nothing to crow about.

So…Christmas is in 6 months and the additional focus will be on the hungry and those who are homeless and cold. We will remember that Jesus was born in a manger in a barn. It will dawn on us that many of us suffer and Christmas is a bitter reminder of their want and need and their lack of being seen or heard.

Being a Christian is about helping others. Christ taught a simple message to love each other as he loved us…and that if you do good to the least of these my little ones…you have done it unto me.

There is no doubt in my mind that the primary reason so much division exists in our nation is due to the extreme difference in treatment between the ‘Haves’ and the ‘Nots.’

I smile when I hear many extoll the awful and destructive tenants of Socialism and then equate it to Communism. Many of the benefits that we all enjoy are Socialist in process and that is including Social Security.

Christmas is coming in 6 months or…as John Lennon sang…’The rich and the poor ones…the black and the white…’